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US States May Axe Executions to Cut Costs

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Death penalty opponents demonstrate outside the Supreme Court in Washington. In an unexpected twist to the economic crisis, several US states are weighing whether to abolish the death penalty as the execution process proves too great a drain on dwindling resources. (photo: AFP)

WASHINGTON - In an unexpected twist to the economic crisis, several US states are weighing whether to abolish the death penalty as the execution process proves too great a drain on dwindling resources.

Death penalty laws remain on the books of 36 of the 50 US states, and capital punishment is supported by some two-thirds of the American public.

But across the nation, states as diverse and far-flung as Montana, Kansas, New Mexico and Maryland are among those actively considering abolishing capital punishment in a bid to overcome ballooning budget shortfalls.

"It is quite unusual that we've seen this blossoming of state legislative activity this year. It's because there is a renewed inspection of the death penalty," Steve Hall, director of the anti-capital punishment group Standdown, told AFP.

Most of the states involved in the move are those which have only executed a few people -- five or less -- in the past 30 years since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. But "state legislators across America seem to be re-examining the death penalty," he said.

The financial savings could be considerable.

Carrying out the death penalty can leave a state footing a bill that is 10 times higher than for an inmate serving life imprisonment.

On top of a complex and lengthy process, appeals can last years and the prisoners are often represented by lawyers paid by the state.

Guarding death rows and death chambers are also costly items on a state's budget.

In Kansas, which has not carried out a single execution since 1976 but has nine men on death row, financial concerns trump other considerations.

Republican state senator Caroline McGinn has proposed a bill banning the death penalty starting in July in order to reduce the state's budget deficit.

Activists have calculated that in Kansas the cost of executing a prisoner is 70 percent higher than keeping someone in prison. The bill for a death row inmate tops 1.26 million dollars, while for someone serving life imprisonment costs 740,000 dollars, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).

In New Mexico, politicians are hoping to pass a repeal law this year. The state, which has only executed one person in 30 years and has only two people on death row, could save a million dollars, observers say.

On Monday, Montana was debating a bill to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without parole, after years of failed efforts to repeal the law.

The northwestern state has only executed three people since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. And only two inmates are currently housed on its death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Nebraska and New Hampshire lawmakers are also considering repealing the current laws, while Oklahoma and Utah are considering limits on the death penalty.

Maryland, which has carried out five executions since 1976, seems closest to abolishing the death penalty with the support of governor, Martin O'Malley. According to figures from the DPIC, those five executions cost the state some 37.2 million dollars.

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Further

On this day 50 years ago, a platoon of U.S. soldiers entered the hamlet of My Lai in South Vietnam and, in hours, massacred 504 unarmed women, children and old men. Over 300 of the victims were younger than 12; the G.I.s also raped many of the women and burned all the homes. Today, with torturers and warmongers on the rise, the horrors of My Lai serve as a grim warning. In America's wars of choice, says one vet, we are all "one step away from My Lai."